Monsters and Metas
by MidnightWriter44678
Summary: Jim and Claire stop in Central City for a supply run during their trip to New Jersey, never expecting to run into our beloved Scarlet Speedster. Chaos ensues and they are taken to star labs, only to discover that when they are ready to leave, the sun has risen and they are trapped for the day. This story takes place after season 3 of Trollhunters and shortly after season 1 of Flash
1. Chapter 1

"I still think this was a bad idea, Claire," Jim mumbled, pulling his hood up a little more in an attempt to hide his features as much as possible, only to realize how sketchy he must look, a seven-ish foot tall male wearing dark clothing with his hood draw to cover his features and hands shoved in his pockets walking with a petite, cheery teenage girl in a Papa Skull hoodie and leggings in the middle of the night.

"You running on the roofs wouldn't work this time, the buildings are getting too tall," Claire reached and tugged on his sleeve to get him to speed up as they were passing a fast food restaurant with a group of teens who were staring at them, she hated to admit it but she was glad that Jim was a slightly oblivious person and didn't seem to notice half of the stares that he got, "Besides, I've heard that there is a lot of peculiar crime in this city and I didn't want to come alone to such a big place."

Jim snorted "We both know that you are fully capable of taking care of yourself," he gazes down at her as she snickers and pulls his four fingered hand out of his pocket, weaving her fingers with his and swinging their arms slightly as they walk,

"Alright, you got me, I had you come because we haven't had any time alone together since you came with me to the laundromat in that small town in kansas about a month ago, and I really wanted to spend some alone time with you," she smiled up at him and he knew that if he was still able to blush, his whole face would be red, "Plus," she continued, a sly smile creeping onto her face and a spark of humor in her eyes, "I needed someone to carry all my bags," this caused them to both burst out laughing, lightening the mood and settling both of their nerves.

They walked for a while longer, Jim noted that Claire was right about the roofs, the buildings around them were slowly rising in height as they made their way deeper into the city. The buildings were getting closer and closer together, and the streets more populated, though Jim knew it was still far less crowded than during the day. Cars and people zipped pass them as they ran their errands, and they were stopped a couple of times, once by a police officer who was suspicious of the odd looking couple and once by a group of teens who wanted a picture. It was Claire's quick thinking that allowed them to escape the first situation unscathed, explaining Jim's appearance as a cosplay costume and saying that they were just running some errands on their way home from a convention. They stuck with this story when they were stopped by the teens and even allowed the group of teens to take pictures with them. Jim and Claire laughed once the group left, the teens chatting about how great Jim's "costume" was,

"That was brilliant, Claire, we should use that story more often, I could get away with being in public more often if everyone is gullible enough to believe that this is a costume," Jim stated quietly once the group was completely out of sight. He shifted the bags he was carrying into one hand and used the other to pull his hood back into place, having pulled it down for the pictures, and grinned down at the girl beside him, "Though not very often, we don't want me becoming some well known tourist attraction."

She laughed "Your right, though I think it would be really cool to go to an _actual_ cosplay convention. It would be a fun opportunity to be normal teens for a night and would give us the chance to talk to some semi-normal human beings."

"Why only semi-normal?" he questioned

She glanced at him with a deadpan expression "No one that dresses up in a fursuit is completely normal. Jim." they both chuckled,

"Very true, anyway, what is our next stop?"

"The laundromat," she states, nodding her head to the backpack he has on is back as she pulls out her phone for directions, "This is my last even partially clean outfit and, though you may not sweat anymore, that does not mean that your clothes stay clean for long." Jim glanced down at the plastic Walmart bags in his hands, realizing with a whince that she had a point. He always seemed to be covered in grime by the end of the night and had no idea how, and the rising humidity the farther they traveled east was not helping the matter. They had made a stop at walmart for a couple of reasons, the first was food, both for Claire and for Merlin, the man seemed to have a bottomless stomach when he ate, through Jim supposed that was to be expected when the man hasn't eaten for a few centuries, the second reason was clothes. Jim had ripped through his cargo pants about a week ago and was forced to wear sweatpants till they could get some new ones, Though sweatpants were not very durable, to say the least, and Jim had already gone through a pair just in the time that it took to get to the city, so they had gotten him a new hoodie and a few new pants. While they were already shopping for clothes, they got Claire some new clothes as well, mostly some more weather durable clothing due to them traveling into cooler environments and the summer starting to come to a close. The other things were just the normal essentials, such as sunscreen, umbrellas, toilet paper and feminine hygiene products.

It had taken Jim nearly a week to calm down and accept himself enough for his armor to release, and once it had, he had finally started to explore his new body and all its changes. He found that not a lot had changed, other than his missing finger and a couple missing toes, everything was still present. He was more muscular and was bigger in every aspect, along with stone for skin, but mostly remained anatomical unchanged (which he was beyond grateful for), though his feet had change quite a bit, losing the pinky toe on both feet, toes becoming bigger and farther spread apart, ending in sharp claws rather than nails. He laughed the first time he saw them, they looked more beastly than human and the first thing he thought of was the jokes Toby would make about him having dinosaur feet, realizing that his friend would get a real kick out of it. Though the thing that changed the most were his senses, particularly his sense of smell. He had noticed that Claire's scent was always changing and had realized quite quickly why, he filed it away in his memory and had made sure to keep his instincts under control during her fertile period, but he had been extremely startled the first time Claire had started her period on their trip. She had come up to him, smiling like she always did and he was almost instantly assaulted by the overwhelming stench of blood. He panicked. He had nearly jumped on her, frantically checking her over for injuries and asking her a million question. Lucky they had been alone during this as it had lead to a rather awkward conversation and multiple admissions and apologies from both parties.

Jim chuckled quietly at the memory and turned back to Claire, "So how far away is it?" he asked, then a thought crossed his mind "Also, it is getting late, did you check if they are open?"

Claire hummed thoughtfully, "I didnt think about that, let me check," she proceeded to tap her phone and then groaned, "They closed at eight, which was two and a half hours ago"

Jim sighed "It's alright, we will work it out later, plus we just got new clothes so we can last a little longer if we have to."

Claire sighed as well, her shoulders slumping "you're right, let's head back and meet up with the oth-" her sentence was cut short by an explosion down the street and a building going up in flames.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to read my story, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Trollhunters or Flash, the only thing I own are my ideas.

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Screams echoed through the night as people ran in all directions, trying desperately to get away from the flames and flying debris. People tumbled from the doors of the burning building and into the chaos of the street. Alarms filled the air, adding to the overwhelming wall of noise that erupted immediately after the explosion. Jim and Claire fought their way through the frantic crowd, making their way towards the flaming building. Making it to the front of the crowd, they ran up to two women, both were covered in soot, one was screaming and frantically trying to run back into the build while the other held her back,

"What is going on?!" Claire asked the calmer woman, hoping to get answers and assess the situation before taking action, "is there anyone still in the building?"

The frantic woman spun towards them, grabbing Claire's shoulders in a vise like grip, "MY CHILDREN! MY CHILDREN ARE TRAPPED ON THE SECOND FLOOR!" she wailed, breaking down into tears and falling to the ground, sobbing.

"This is an apartment building, there could still be dozens of people inside and the staircase to the second floor collapsed," the second woman explained, "The firefighters wont get here in time to save them." Her eyes were watering as she said this and her voice cracked at the end. Jim was surveying the building during this conversation and turned to Claire,

"Claire, I want you to stay out here, help take care of the ones who made it out, calm them down and distribute the water in our bags, and make sure no one runs back into the building." She gave him a sharp nod and a quick "be safe" before kneeling on the ground in front of the sobbing woman, speaking softly to her. Jim was just about to run into the building when a man from the crowd latched onto his arm, forcing him to turn and face the man,

"Where do you think you're going, kid?" the man was fairly tall but still had to look up slightly to look Jim in the eye, and stepped back once he got a good look at Jim's face. Jim ignored the pang in his chest from the man's reaction,

"People are going to die in there, someone has to help," he replied, turning and running for the entrance before he could be stopped again. He charged straight in, the fire roaring around him. He stopped once deeper inside, his ears pricked and alert for any signs of life. The flames licked at his skin, uncomfortably hot but not burning. The burning wood floors sinking and bending slightly under his heave structure.

"HELLO? IS ANYBODY IN HERE?!" he shouted, getting no response. He pulled the hood off his head, ashes falling in his hair as he looked around corners. Creaking above his head was the only warning he got before a large metal beam fell through the ceiling, he threw his arms up to cover his face, the beam hitting him and setting his sleeves on fire. He tossed the beam away and swatted at the fire consuming his jacket. The sound of a child's scream caused him to jump back into action, and he ran on all fours in the direction of the sound. He found where the stairs had been, seeing the collapsed structure in pieces below the broken hole in the ceiling. Looking up he could see about six or seven people huddled together as close to the ledge as they could get, trying to stay away from the fire as it closed in around them, a couple bodies lying lifeless on the floor below them, blood pooling around them from wounds caused by debris they landed on. Jim ignored the corpse by his feet and gazed up at the people on the ledge, seeing three children, an elderly couple, and a woman holding a bundle in her arms, most likely a young infant, judging by the terrified wailing.

"Hey, is everyone alright?" Jim shouted up to them, hoping that he wouldn't startle any of them off the ledge, due to them not noticing him yet. The young woman whipped around, and nearly fell off if not for a hand grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back in place. A man, most likely her husband, popped his head out to look at Jim. They all looked startled at him, the elderly woman gasped and her husband stood protectively in front of her,

"What _are_ you?" the younger woman with the baby asked quietly. Jim sighed and shook his head slightly,

"It doesn't matter what I am, I'm here to get you all out. Start lowering the children down and I will catch them, then you can start jumping down next," Jim instructed, stretching his arms out as one of the older kids came closer to the ledge. The boy, no older than nine, nodded and started to sit down, preparing to jump from the ledge, when the elderly man put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him,

"I ain't jumpin' into the arms of no demon," he stated sternly. Jim sighed again, running his hand through his hair and gripping one of his horns, realizing that he probably looked a lot like a demon in this situation, his sleeve burned up to his elbows and in tatters, his pants not much better. Being dark in coloration, with horns and surrounded in flames most likely wasn't helping either,

"I'm not a demon, Sir, I'm a troll, and I just want to get you guys out of here, the building is going to come down on top of us at any moment and we are wasting time," he reached his arms out once again, "Please, let me help you."

The man gave him a wary look, then glanced back at the fire that was quickly consuming the second floor, he nodded and stepped back from the young boy. The child gazed down at Jim, took a deep breath and pushed himself of the ledge. From the expression he gave, it seemed that he had not expected Jim to be so tall, because he was caught almost immediately after his body left the edge of the floor. Jim smiled at him and lowered him to the ground, turning and setting the boy away from the pool of blood. His nose crinkled as he noticed that the puddle had spread over his feet in the short time that he had been standing there, covering his toes and claws in the sticky red substance. Ignoring his discomfort, he turned back around and grabbed the next child, repeating the process till all the children were on the ground behind him.

Next, the woman with the baby came and sat on the edge, clutching the infant tightly to her chest. Jim took a step forward, trying to get as close to her as he could, at this point not caring about the sticky puddle he was stepping in. He reached up and grabbed her legs while her husband helped lower her down by one of her arms. He grabbed her waist and brought her closer to him, carrying her over to the kids behind him, and set her down carefully. The baby she held had been crying the majority of the time they had been in there, though stopped when she caught sight of Jim's face, only to burst into giggles when he smiled down at her. The woman looked at her child in suprise, then at him, repeating this multiple times as Jim turned back to get the elderly woman, being lowered down in a similar fashion as the first woman. Once Jim set her down she reached up and patted him on the head between his horns,

"Why thank you, young lad," she smiled, her face crinkled in that cute, sweet old lady way, and even through the smoky smell, he could tell she smelled like oatmeal cookies. He returned the smile, nodding in acknowledgment and returning to get the elderly man, who grumbled about being carried but settled down once by his wife. Jim turned around one last time to grab the man, who thanked him and joined the others.

"Is that everyone?" Jim questioned as he looked over all the faces. He shifted, starting to feel uncomfortable in the heat, and coughed from the smoke in his lungs. He had noticed that the kid's coughing was getting worse and some of them had burns that were already blistering, he needed to get them out fast.

"This is everyone that was with us," the young man replies, counting heads, and nodding, "Though we don't know if there was anyone else stuck on the other levels." Jim glanced back up to the second floor,

"Okay, all of you head that way to the door, my girlfriend, Claire, should be right outside with water and the firefighters will be here soon," Jim instructed, then crouched and leaped up to the second floor, only for it to give out from under him. In the millisecond that it took or him to fall, he attempted to flip himself around to land on his feet, unfortunately only making it halfway. He slammed down on his side, wood splintering under the impact, His head smashed into a iron rod sticking from the ground at and angle, hitting him just below the base of his horn and making the world spin. He had no time to recover, though, as the rest of the ceiling decided to come down on top of them not a moment later. He leaped to his feet, jumping in the way of the other people and threw his arms up, catching the crumbling ceiling. Arms shaking as he held up the collapsing building, growling from the strain placed on him,

"GO!" he shouted through gritted teeth, the people trembling below him. Suddenly there was a man dress completely in red standing in front of them, appearing to materialize straight from the fire itself. Though the man's face was covered by a mask, his shock was clear, mouth agape and eyes wide.

"What on earth?" he stumbled back, looking at Jim, then the ceiling, the people on the ground, then back at Jim. Jim growled, _We don't have time for this_

"Stop your gawking and get these people out of here!" he growled out, glaring at the ceiling and snarling as his arms started to shake harder, "I can't hold this forever!" The man's face hardened, eyes filled with determination, and he was gone again, the only sign that he was moving rather than teleporting was the blur of red and the streak of lightning he left behind. The red streak zoomed past repeatedly, people disappearing one by one and being transported to safety. By the time the last person was taken, Jim's whole body was shaking furiously, the weight of the ceiling determined to crush him. He was dizzy, blood dripping down his face, coughing wildly as the smoke threatened to suffocate him. Suddenly the man was back, standing next to him,

"Is there anyone still in the building?" the man had to look slightly up to look him in the eyes as he asked the question,

"I don't... *cough*... know, I was heading to the second… *cough*... floor when the ceiling collapsed," Jim's voice was strained and he was wheezing. The man nodded sharply, becoming a blur again and leaping through the hole in the floor above them. He reappeared mere seconds later,

"That's everyone, let's get out of here," the man jolted forward, shoulder pressed in Jim's side and arms wrapped around his waist as they shot out of the building. The force of the building collapsing behind them flung them ungracefully to the ground and into the crowd.

"JIM!" the shout was heard above the rest, and Claire pushed her way through the ocean of people, dropping to her knees at Jim's side and placing her hand on his chest, "Jim are you alright?" she looked at him, worried, studying his features and injuries, "Can you stand?" he hesitated, debating, then nodded and started to get to his feet. Claire helped support him and he leaned heavily on her, swaying. His position did not last long because as soon as he took a step, he fell back to the ground, the crowd whispering and staring as he went into a coughing fit. The man in red came to his side, his voice sounding far away as he talked to Claire,

"It looks like he has a concussion, and he inhaled a lot of smoke," the man and Claire whispered a bit more, though Jim didn't catch the rest. The crowd had started taking pictures, and the flashing lights of the cameras were not helping the throbbing in his head. The man turned to him, "I going to take both of you to somewhere you can get medical attention," and that was the only warning he got before the man was wrapping his arms around them and the world became a sickening blur of lights and color.


	3. Chapter 3

*Claws way through six feet of earth, cackling madly* I LIVE!

SO sorry to all of you who have been waiting for the next chapter, life hit me in the face like a brick. Anyway, this chapter is nearly twice as long as the other two, so hopefully it will make up for my HUGE leap of absence. I would also like to give a shout out to everyone who has commented on this story, your words mean the world to me and gave me motivation to get this finished, so thank you. Hope you all enjoy!

Also, I am still open for constructive criticism! Feel free to point out any of my errors or things that you think I could have done better on, thanks!

* * *

The world was a sickening blur. Lights and colors mixing together and twisting in Jim's eyes, causing his headache to worsen significantly. He assumed that from the way Claire was clinging to him and digging her nails into his stone skin, that she wasn't fairing much better than him. The thought crossed his mind that there was no way this was a natural speed for a human to run at, but the thought was dispelled by the intense concentration on not throwing up on the poor guy carrying them. He felt himself thrown over the man's shoulder, his legs and lower torso tucked under the man's arm like a football. Claire was thrown on the man's back and was clinging to Jim for dear life. He would have laughed at the sight they probably made, but just couldn't find the energy to produce such a sound. That, and the fact that if he opened his mouth, his breakfast would be making a second appearance. The number of twists and turns they made in such a short amount of time was startling, and was a good reminder of why Jim hated big cities so much, they had far to many roads and it was easy to get lost for hours on end if you took one wrong turn.

"Flash to Base, I'm bringing some strange visitors with me on my return," the man in the red suit was talking, though to who, Jim didn't know, "I have no way to explain them, but one is injured and needs medical attention, so please be ready Caitlin," Jim could hear voices coming from and earpiece this time, but still could not tell what they were saying. His stomach gave another jolt, nausea making his head swim, and he realized that he wasn't going to last any longer,

"Stop," he tried weakly, the feeling of bile rising up his esophagus causing a panic to set in, he tapped the man's shoulder, "Please STOP!" suddenly the world was still again, and he was lowered to the ground, the pavement of a parking lot the only thing there to stabilize him,

"Are you alright?" the man asked, kneeling beside him. Jim didn't answer, simply turning over so he was on his hands and knees, and emptied his stomach of it's contents. The man jumped back, startled, and glaced worriedly over at Claire. The girl was looking a bit dizzy, but was nowhere near as bad as Jim. She stepped forward and gently ran her fingers throw the hair on Jim's neck and between his horns, rubbing circles on his back,

"You alright, Jim?" her voice was soft but worried, he groaned before nodding slightly,

"That was so much worse than the Gyre," he stated in a gravelly voice, the smell of his vomit burning his nose and leaving a horrible taste in his mouth, "God, what I would do for a toothbrush right now," he joked weakly, motioning for Claire to help him to his feet.

"I think you would just eat it without thinking," she teased him, letting him lean on her heavily, "That's what you did with your fork last week, remember?"

"Yeah, that was embarrassing," he said with a small grin, shuffling away slowly from the badly smelling puddle,

"It was really funny, though." Their little banter was interrupted by the man clearing his throat,

"Sorry, moving you at the speed of sound immediately after you sustained a concussion is not one of the smartest things I have ever done," he apologized, awkwardly motioning to an oddly shaped building to their left, the building was a couple stories tall and flat, with three pillars rising from the top, and it had scorch marks all over it suggesting that it had been set on fire at one point. Even with its run down appearance, it was an impressive building, and was brightly lit with cold, white lights. "This is Star Labs, um, we have a medical expert inside waiting to assist you, do you think you are up for the last little bit of the trip, or would you rather walk?"

Jim glance blearily at the building and the distance between where they were and where they wanted to be. His feet felt like they were made of lead and his knees were weak, stomach churning and head spinning. He really didn't want to walk but the high speed movement reminiscent to the Gyre sounded just as unappealing.

"A fast, short trip would probably be best, it could take me an hour to get there, and I doubt any of us want to suffer through that long and humiliating walk of shame," Jim joked weakly, giving the man a shaky smile. The man looked startled, his eyes widening, and for a moment Jim thought that he had scared him, and he became very self conscious of his large teeth, but his worry was subdued when the man chuckled. Claire snorted beside him,

"Jim, that was a terrible joke." she stated but chuckle quietly nonetheless. Jim snorted back in response, silently noting that the pounding in his head was starting to subside, along with the nausea.

"First, I wasn't trying to be that funny, that's Toby's job, and second, I'd like to see you come up with a funny joke when you have a concussion." he huffed out, standing a little straighter as his strength started to return. He was impressed that he was already feeling better, knowing that head injuries normally took longer to heal. Claire sighed quietly as her back straightened with him, glancing up at him, her eyes roaming over his face before she responded with sassy banter,

"I'm sure I could come up with something better than 'terrible walk of shame' and you would be the only one suffering, oh all mighty Trollhu-" their oncoming argument was cut off when the man in red cleared his throat loudly to gain their attention, and when they turned to him, he motioned to the building again.

"Like I said, I have people waiting inside for us, so if you could finish this conversation in there, that would be appreciated." He then nodded to Jim's face, "Also, you have blood dripping down your face." Jim blinked at him, startled, before reaching up and running his hand across his face, pulling it away to see it covered in blood. He grimaced and wiped the blood on what was left of his burnt pants.

"Yeah, sorry for wasting your time, sir, let's go." Claire stated, glaring at Jim one more time before cautiously leaving his side. He wobbled a bit but was able to remain on his feet as the man came over and wrapped his arms around Jim's waist, Claire on his back and Jim carefully holding her in place.

"There is no need to call me "sir", I go by The Flash." and then they were off again. It took less than a second before they were stopping again, both stumbling away from the man, but luckily managing to stay on their feet this time. Jim rubbed his head, groaning softy.

"Yep, worse than the Gyre." he grumbled before turning around. There was a man sitting in the chair in front of multiple computer monitors, he had his feet up on the desk and a sucker in his mouth.

"'Bout time you got back, what took so long?" he asked before spinning his chair to face them. The reaction was almost immediate, his face dropped and his eyes widened, and then he was flinging his arms out with a shout as his chair fell backwards. He popped back up a moment later and put his hands out in front of him, pointing his sucker at the newcomers. "Wh..What is that?!"

"Calm down, Cisco, they're just here for some medical attention, there is nothing to worry about," Flash said, coming to stand between them, motioning to his frightened friend. "Guys , this is Cisco, Cisco this is…" he trailed off, his face expressing that he wanted them to continue. Claire stepped forward, extending her hand for a greeting,

"Claire, and this is Jim, it is nice to meet you." she waited patiently as Cisco stepped forward and gave her had a shake.

"You too," he replied hesitantly. Jim stepped forward next and extended his five fingered hand out to the man. Cisco looked at his hand, then up at his face, then back to his hand. Jim had become a lot less self conscious about his new appearance over the last couple of months, but that doesn't mean this man's fearful reaction doesn't hurt. He shakes the feeling off and makes sure not to show it, consciously holding his ears from lowering and a small smile on his face. He waits for a moment, but when it is clear that the man isn't going to shake his hand, he snorts and shakes his head slightly,

"I don't bite, you know." Cisco nearly jumped out of his skin at Jim's voice, and Jim chuckled as the man's expression morphed from fear to awe.

"Woah, cool." Cisco laughed breathlessly, shaking Jim's hand. And suddenly, Jim's personal space was completely violated, Cisco running circles around him and inspecting him from head to toe. "Don't think we've see a Metal that has change appearance at such an extreme level before. What were you doing when the Particle Accelerator exploded to make you look like this. What is your skin made of, stone? Why ar-" he was interrupted by a woman in a lab coat, her red hair curled and sitting on her shoulders, a stethoscope hanging around her neck, and for one, heart wrenching moment, Jim thought it was his mother. The moment was gone just as fast as it had appeared and a hollowness made itself known deep in his chest. The woman looked slightly startled but managed to keep a professional expression as she approached him. She shook his hand swiftly,

"Hello, I am Doctor Caitlin Snow. I would assume by the amount of blood on your face that you are the one Flash brought back for medical attention?" her voice was smooth and sweet, but her eyes held an ocean of sorrow. It was startling, and glancing at the other's of this odd group, he realized that they all had that sorrow, a sadness only the death of a loved one could bring. They had lost someone very dear to them. Recently. A image of Draal flashed across his mind, he knew that sorrow well.

"Yeah, it's just a small concussion though, and I'm already feeling better, I'm sure that with a glass of water and some empty soda cans, I'll be fine and we can be on our way." suddenly he was yanked down by his horn, Claire's eyes staring straight into his.

"Don't you dare. You were nearly unconscious when the Flash dragged you out of the burning building and you were so dizzy, you could barely even sand in the parking lot." Claire brought his face closer to her own and growled. It was a weak imitation of his own but it got the point across. "We are not leaving until you are patched up, do you understand me?" Jim's pupils were blown wide and his hair was standing on end, a wine rising in his throat. He nodded,

"Yeah, alright." His voice came out gravely and strained, but Claire was satisfied that he had been thoroughly chastised and let go of his ear. He stood up straight, rising to his full height for the first time since arriving. He waved his hand to the woman, "lead the way, Dr. Snow." Caitlin looked slightly startled by his height, as did the rest of them, and the two men in the room were looking at Claire with awe. Caitlin quickly shook off her surprise, and her professional mask was back in place within seconds. She turned around and lead him into another room off to the side of the main area. There was medical equipment scattered around, yet oddly organized, and a clean, white hospital bed in the middle of the small room. The glass walls allowed Jim to keep and eye on Claire while he was in here, and he was extremely grateful for the small blessing.

"Please take a seat while I quickly gather my equipment," Caitlin was rummaging round and gathering the general tools for a medical checkup. "Oh, and please remove your jacket and shirt."

"Alright," Jim pulled off his hoodie, leaving him bare chest, and sat down slowly onto the medical bed, it's frame groaning in protest to supporting his weight. He grimaced, and lowered himself the rest of the way, sighing in relief when the bed held him. He rolled his hoodie up and set it on the bed beside him, looking up to see Dr. Snow giving him a curious look,

"Did that hurt to sit down?" she asked as she set the tools on the metal table beside the bed, never taking her eyes off him. Jim's ears perked, eyes widened and he looked down at the bed in confusion, realizing what she meant, he chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He looked back up at her and smiled,

"No, it didn't hurt, I just didn't know if the bed would hold me," his arm dropped back into his lap, and he notice absently that it had flakes of dried blood sprinkled across his blue skin. "I'm heavier than I look." Caitlin hummed thoughtfully, then proceed to lift the stethoscope from her neck.

"Alright, now none of this should be very invasive, I just want to do a routine checkup such as in checking you lungs and heart before checking your head injury. If you feel uncomfortable or any pain, please let me know." Jim nodded his consent and she brought the stethoscope to his chest. He could feel the slight coldness of the metal, but it didn't bother him at all. He watched Caitlin's face carefully, but she kept a blank expression the whole time. They continued through the examination, only speaking when Caitlin asked him about how something felt of instructing him in movements. She examined his skull, running her fingers along the base of his horn and around his scalp. He had the intense urge to pull away, but knew that it would be more beneficial to everyone if he just held still.

"Alright," Caitlin stated as she dropped her hands from his head, "We're finished." she started putting things away, setting anything that had been used into a bin to be washed and sterilized later. Jim waited patiently for her to finish, hoping that she would tell him what she found without him having to ask. After several awkward seconds of silence, it was apparent that she was too lost in thought to say anything. He cleared his throat,

"Am I gonna live, Doc?" The joke was poorly made, but it got a reaction out of her. She was jolted out of her thoughts by his voice, and snorted, rolling her eyes when the words registered.

"Yeah, you'll be fine. You have a mild traumatic brain injury, along with a small incision on the left Frontal Parietal section of your skull, at the base of your, uh, horn." she gestured vaguely at his head before returning to her professional stance and holding her clipboard to her chest. "You also have a large laceration along your abdomen that looks like a reopened wound." Jim was really glad that his mom was a doctor, otherwise he might not have understood half of that,

"Okay, so small concussion, a cut at the base of my horn, and the wound on my side has reopened, otherwise there was nothing out of the normal?" He summarized. Caitlin seemed pleased that he understood her, but it only lasted for a moment before she became awkward again.

"Well, we have never see a Meta like you before, so I wouldn't be able to tell you what is normal and what isn't." She glanced down at her clipboard, reading over her notes before continuing. "Your lungs seem fine compared to how much smoke you breathed in, though they seem stronger than the average human's, your heart is the same, beating a little stronger and faster but at a steady pace. Your reflexes are faster, too, so I would say you are healthy, but 'normal' wouldn't really apply." He nodded his head at this, all of it expected, but stopped when something registered in his mind.

"You people keep calling me a meta, but I have never heard of such a thing, what is it?" She gave him a quizzical expression and opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the sound of an explosion and Claire's startled yelp. All Jim's thoughts flew out the window as he shot up from the bed and leaped out the open door, Caitlin quickly making her way out behind him.

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So I am not necessarily happy with this chapter...

It just didn't want to end, so I had to cut it into two parts, which means that the ending feels a little rushed, in my opinion. I would also like to clarify that I am not a doctor, so my use of big fancy medical words is shitty. Anyway, I would like to mention that it will probably be a while before I update again. Now that school has started again and my work is taking up my afternoons, I don't have very much free time to work on this. So I apologize in advance, but I will assure you that I am not abandoning this story, the updates are just spread far apart. Thank you to all the people who are following my story and those who are leaving comments, you mean a lot to me and I am grateful for your thoughts and input on the story. You are all amazing. Till next time!


	4. Chapter 4

*Slithers up from the bottom of the ocean*

Heeyyyy everyone. So, um, sorry for DROPPING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH! I have been ridiculously busy recently, and haven't had a whole lot of time for writing. Anyway, for those of you who didn't know, I am still alive so no worries. I have come back from the grave and am here with a new chapter! I apologize that it is so short, but I figured that it would be better to get it out rather than nothing. Again, a shout out to all those who have commented on this story, especially those who left comments long after I stopped posting, you guys are all angels and I love you.

Also, a heads up, it will probably be a very long time before I post another chapter, so I am apologizing in advance. I am letting you know that I don't plan on dropping this story at any time, I just have very sporadic updates. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing from you!

* * *

The first thing he saw when he burst into the main room was smoke, and it sent his instincts into overdrive. He leaped over the desk that was in the center of the room, coming up to the thing causing the black cloud just in time to see it go from smoking, to bursting into flames. He immediately stomped on it repeatedly till the fire was completely out before turning to the others in the room. Eyes landing on Claire, he quickly came to her side, checking every inch of her for injury.

"Jim, I'm fine, I promise." He grunted, giving her a doubtful look and continued looking over her, "I'm serious, I'm fine, just a little startled is all, and you came to my rescue, didn't you?" Her tone turned teasing, and that soothed his nerves just enough for him to back off, though he didn't leave her side. He looked at the two men, Flash looked startled and Cisco was looking at the object on the floor like he had just witnessed a murder. Jim gave the still smoking object a closer inspection, and realized that it was some sort of electrical device. He had smashed it a little more than intended, but from what he could tell from the mostly intact pieces, it looked like a scanner.

"What happened in here?" He asked, seeming to startled Cisco out of his shock. The man looked up from the device, mouth opening and closing like a fish, before blurting out.

"She blew up my Dark Matter scanner!" Both Jim and Claire blinked.

"How would I have done that, I didn't even touch it?" Claire finally said, and it looked like Cisco was about to have a melt down. His face turned red and he pointed his finger at her angrily, taking a threatening step toward them. Jim stepped in the way, completely blocking the man's view of Claire, and snarled, a growl vibrating deep in his throat.

"Hey! Everyone calm down!" Flash shouted, suddenly appearing in between Jim and Cisco, clearly doing his best to stop any sort of fight from breaking out. "Cisco, we can't be sure that she did that on purpose, let alone if it was her at all, so let's calm down and stop pointing fingers." He glanced nervously at Jim, and Jim figured he probably looked pretty threatening, hackles raised and a snare on his face, all of his teeth bared and on full display. Cisco seemed to notice this too, and quickly backed down, stepping away and letting his anger go for the moment. Jim relaxed to his best extent, though he was unable to fully calm down quite yet. Caitlin startled them all out of the tension by clearing her throat.

"Alright, does anyone want to explain what happened? Cisco?" Cisco grumbled, but gestured to the scanner on the floor.

"I brought out the meta scanner to scan both of them for dark matter, I was interested to find how much radiation was needed to change Big Blue over here on such a dramatic scale, but when I turned it on, and turned it towards Claire, it started to spark and exploded."

"How is that even possible? There isn't enough dark matter in the world over load the scanner at such a quick rate, let alone contained in a single being, she should be dead." With this Caitlin came forward and started looking Claire over, much to the girls discomfort. Jim was about to interfere, but Claire put a hand on his chest, holding him in place.

"What did you say this scanner was able to scan for?" The girl asked, her fingers running along his stone skin, only then did he realize that he was running around without a shirt, and the faint blush on Claire's cheeks told him that she had just noticed as well.

"It scans for Dark Matter, or dark energy that is prominent in all Metahumans, and is the cause for their powers and abilities." Cisco explained, kneeling down to pick up the smashed pieces of his scanner. The man looked at the scanner like a fallen soldier before shaking his head, "This is completely ruined, there is nothing salvageable." He gave Jim a weak glare before proceeding to throw the crushed remains in the garbage bin by the door. Jim watched him, his stomach growled and he licked his lips. His gaze remained on the bin for a moment longer as Cisco walked back over to the group, but a nudge to the arm brought his attention to Claire, who smiled at him but shook her head. He turned back to the group and stood a little straighter, slightly embarrassed by his slip.

"I'm sorry about crushing your scanner, I was just trying to put out the fire." Cisco shook his head, a small sigh leaving his lips.

"It's alright, I'll just make another one later." There was an awkward silence after that, no one quite knowing what to say. Flash finally broke the silence, stepping forward to address the two newcomers.

"Anyway, moving on from that fiasco, would either of you mind answering some questions for us?" Jim and Claire turned to each other before Claire answered for the both of them, though slightly hesitant.

"We suppose not, as long as they are not violating questions." Flash smiled at this.

"Great, thank you." At this, Cisco sat down at the computer.

"Alright, let's start out with your full names." The man said as his fingers sped across the keys.

"Ah, James Lake Jr." Jim started, watching the man with caution. Cisco immediately pulled up the police records and birth certificates. He finally stopped when Jim's name popped up in the juvenile records, casting the image to the screens around the room. "Wait, they have me on record? I thought those were private records?"

"Oh they are, we just hacked, uh, gained access to the files." Cisco replied. Jim practically squirmed in place while everyone, including Claire, studied his police records. After a moment, Flash was the first one to speak.

"Wait, how old are both of you?" He turned a confused gaze to them, and Jim was starting to regret letting them ask questions.

"We're both sixteen, but I turn seventeen in a couple of months." Jim said, trying not to show how uneasy he was starting to feel. Flash seemed startled, and was about to say something but was interrupted by Cisco

"What kind of kid breaks into a museum?' Cisco spun around in the chair to look at them, "Like, what were you even doing?"

"Well, my friend got his watch stolen and we were going to get it back. In doing so, we found a gob, uh, an animal nest and went in after the museum curator, Nomura, to warn her." He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "At the time we didn't know she was actually the one taking care of the animals and most definitely not on our side. Then we got attacked, nearly died, and made it out only to be arrested." Claire was staring at him at this point, confusion clear on her face.

"When did that ever happen?" she asked, glancing between him and his mugshot.

"Before you joined the team." She gave him a look that clearly said she was not satisfied with his answer and that they would be talking about it later, but to his relief, she dropped the topic for the time being. The rest of the group dropped the topic as well and they moved on to looking at a couple other records, such as birth dates, place of residence, and where they were when something called the Particle Accelerator exploded.

"You were both in California when the Particle Accelerator exploded?" Caitlin finally asked, her and the two men looking baffled.

"Yes, but I don't see how that really applies to anything at this point." Jim grumbled, standing up and folding his arms while glaring at the occupants of the room. "At this point I feel like I have been dropped into a mystery novel half way through, so if someone could start explaining what is going on, we are kinda on a time crunch and have people we need to get back to." The three of them looked at each other before looking back to Jim and Claire. Flash stepped towards them, looking both of them in the eyes before starting.

"Sorry about all this, we probably should have explained everything much sooner and not just assumed that you already knew. Metahumans are people that have been exposed to Dark Matter from the energy wave that was expelled from STAR labs when the Particle Accelerator exploded. This exposure mutated their DNA and often gave them strange powers such as turning into living gas or controlling another person's emotions." Cisco and Caitlin both winced at that one. "Essentially they are mutants, but to we call them Metahumans." Jim and Claire both just stared for a moment. It sounded crazy, but they weren't really all that surprised, after everything they went though this last year, how could they be? But after a moment, what had been said, and what had been implied finally set in. Jim was the first to open his mouth.

"Wait, are you saying that you think we're mutants?"


End file.
